Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification
What Lies Beneath Movie Trailer
What Lies Beneath (2000) Theatrical Trailer
What Lies Beneath Movie Description
In What Lies Beneath Movie Oh friend!! What a fun movie! Without giving too much away, this is a haunting film. The plot was nothing to write about, this has been done about 100 times before, but it was done better from recent memory.
It seems movies try to top everything lately with special effects, gore, music, and violence. Not here... I kept thinking they took a step back and went back to what makes movies scary.
This isn't a computer-generated demon or a high-intensity soundtrack; It's a strange door, it's a reflection in the glass, it's that feeling when you know you just pushed that chair away a minute ago and now it's off the table again.
That's why people get restless, that's why they check their cupboards when they get home and sleep with the hall light on.
The most notable difference in the film was the silence. I think about 50% of the movie was completely silent except for breathing, footsteps, doors creaking... Amazing.
It seems lately the powers that be have to fit every second of the soundtrack into the movie (seems nowadays they have to be in commercials for a separate soundtrack from the movie in many cases) to boost the spookiness to the level...
it probably is. only ever works. The silence of the movie increased that tension in your shoulders and made you slowly squirm in your seat.
If I had to pick something to complain about, it would be a weak foreshadowing of the two events, I don't want to give anything away, but you'll know it when you see it. It's like they gave up trying to write them into the plot.
Maybe they even put a subtitle (or a "pop up video" bubble) on the screen to let you know that what they were saying was important. For my wife and I, it tells a little bit about the potential of the film's ending.
Michelle Pfeiffer was really good, I think she was in almost every single shot in the movie, so would have shown anything but a stellar performance.
I'm not usually one to judge actors' performances, but some credit has to be given to someone who could act of fear using only their eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets an Academy nod for this.
Claire and Norman Spencer's marriage begins to crumble when she suspects the house is haunted.
Things intensify when Claire becomes convinced that a spirit is trying to tell her something. Something that may hit too close to home for comfort.
Robert Zemeckis does Hitchcock? Yes, the effect is obvious, without the embarrassment.
But the trouble with that is that all other modern day efforts to have the maestro as a benchmark are presented as folly. However, that huge issue aside, What Lies Beneath Movie is an effective creeper thriller that boasts star credentials.
Directed by Zemeckis, produced from an idea by Steven Spielberg (from a story by Sarah Kernochan) and starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as the fractured Spencer. It's a pretty neat bunch to launch your movie with.
What follows is a mix of genuine uneasiness and suspense, red herrings and standard boo jump moments, all of which are almost lost on a loose middle section as Zemeckis plays Hitchcock too many times and loses sight of the supernatural heart of the piece, no.
Clark Gregg's wandering script might help me out. None the less, the picture for the finale gets pulled around as the edge of the seat content combines with the spooky thriller to produce some quality edge-of-the-seat content.
But only then do you fully realize that the makers here have tried to cram too much into one film.
In its eagerness to manipulate the audience for the perfect ending (though you'll probably have it worked out halfway through) the film ends up being just as confusing as it mostly wanted to be.
Pfeiffer is excellent and looks stunning and Ford gives it gusto when the script allows.
Support comes from Diana Scarvid, Joe Morton, Miranda Otto and James Remar. The house is suitably eerie with its waterside setting and Alan Silvestri's score matches up perfectly with the spooky elements of the piece.
Regardless of the Hitchcockian homage, it's a fine film in its own right. It's just that it should have been a much better horror picture than it turned out to be.
The first time I watched "What Lies Beneath Movie", I was completely infatuated with its engaging plot, mysterious atmosphere, and well-acted characters.
Even after repeated viewings I can still enjoy the well-crafted narrative, picking up something new every time.
For a very basic overview, the film sees Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Norman (Harrison Ford) Spencer sending their only daughter off to college.
Now in an "empty nest", Claire begins to hear voices, sense presences, and find many strange things happening around the house and with the neighbors.
She might even be seeing ghosts, sort of. Is she going crazy...or is something really supernatural happening?
I'm a big fan of mystery, and What Lies Beneath Movie has it in spades. Robert Zemeckis is a master director, so he knows how to craft a movie with just the right kind of pacing to fully draw the audience into Claire and Norman's lives.
You don't know what's happening until the last few minutes of the movie, and it's the perfect buildup to get there.
On a recent viewing, I was struck by how many spot-on "housewife dominated by successful husband" themes are present here.
Although ostensibly a thriller/mystery, it is also a treatise on the power structure between the two chiefs. Guess the title "What Lies Beneath Movie" could refer as much to domestic affairs as to the paranormal.
To that end, the casting is entirely correct. Pfeiffer perfectly personifies the "meek but knows it" empty-nester wife, while Ford does the "being too important" routine to a tee.
The chemistry between the two helps a lot in setting up the finale, which I won't spoil here.
Furthermore, Zemeckis has been quoted as saying (about the film) that he went about it "as Alfred Hitchcock would have done with digital technology".
The approach is blatantly obvious, from the creepy mood music to the use of a bathroom item to instill terror.
Overall, I've always been a little surprised by this film's low ranking and its absence from "best thriller" lists.
If you're a fan of the genre and somehow haven't already seen this gem, you're in for a real treat!